HOME & FAMILY

Shidduchim are sometimes a result of a surprising turn of events. We are waiting for a very specific shidduch and the One Above redirects our thoughts and sends us along another path.

Bubby's Little Thimble
by Tsipora bas Avrohom

Bubby has a little thimble. Nothing special. A handy little cap which fits over the fingertip. If, when sewing, mending or embroidering, her finger aches from the repetitive shove, then the thimble comes to her rescue.

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
The Clothing Store - A Modern Day Parable in the Purim Spirit
by R' Zvi Zobin

Part II

Synopsis: Going to a department store to buy himself a new suit, Mr. Harfwyt has been told by the manager that he is out of proportion. He suffers from Anatomical Extraconfiguration Syndrome, or AES, as well as from Anatomical Disconfiguration Syndrome, or ADS, both treatable through medication or surgery.

Mrs. Harfwyt has gone to the library to research the condition and the serious side effects of the medication

Dressing Up
by A. Ross, M.Ed.

Although there are two months of Adar this year, Purim is in the air before the second one sets in. Even very young children catch on to the idea that Purim arrives in Adar. Fancy dress is not one of the prescribed mitzvos of Purim, but for many children and their mothers, it looms large on the horizon.

Gezel Gauging
by Rosally Saltsman

At no time has the threat of gezel been so great. We live in an economy where things are bought and sold without any connection between the buyer and seller: where it can take years to pay for a purchase; where machines are more involved with recording payments than people and where people may keep running tabs in a dozen different establishments.

Of Water and Weeping
by Bayla Gimmel

Last week a sound truck went around my neighborhood to announce the funeral of the father of one of my neighbors. The deceased was a talmid chochom of note, a dayan and a leader of his community. He had lived to celebrate the marriages of many of his grandchilden and was a great-grandfather many times over. Was this a consolation for his grieving children?

Your Medical Questions Answered!
by Joseph B. Leibman, MD

Summer nights in Jerusalem are something special. The mild breezes that brings welcome relief from the heat, a relaxation from the day's pressures that seems as much spiritual as it is physical. There is a holiness that seems to blend with solace.

POET'S CORNER

In My Drawer
DRORA MATLOFSKY, making her first appearance in Yated, has taken advantage of the first Adar bonus, done some precleaning, and this is what she found

In my drawer I just found
A broken bracelet,
A plastic cup,
A notebook I never used,
A present for my nephew I never sent,
Half a letter from... what's her name?
And some golden wrapping paper.

In my drawer I remembered
The friend who gave me the bracelet,
The day I burned the cup,
Why the pages in my notebook stayed blank,
That my nephew is now too old for that toy,
That I never answered the letter from... what's her name?
And what was in the golden wrapping paper.

In my drawer I forgot
To get the bracelet fixed,
That the cup can't hold any water,
The story I meant to write in the notebook
As soon as I got out of the shower, My nephew's birthday,
The name of... what's her name?
And why I kept this golden wrapping paper.

In my drawer tears I dropped
For the friend who gave me the bracelet,
For my clumsiness when burning the cup,
For the lost story that never got written,
For my nephew's growing up far away,
For having forgotten about... what's her name?
And for the loss of what was in the golden paper.

In my drawer my heart leaped with joy
For finding this beautiful bracelet,
For my daughter's excitement when I bought her the cup,
For the promise of the empty notebook,
For imagining my children playing with their cousins,
For rereading -- what's her name's letter,
And for some beautiful golden wrapping paper
To make my life shine.

Footsteps in the Snow

by Leah Dirnfeld

If we could see
Immediately
The effect of our deeds
How careful and wise
We would be.

Winter

by Mindy Aber Barad

Ice cream drips off roof
Frosted leaves hang heavy
Sparkling vanilla world
Streets of smiles
Sliding downhill

Vanilla chocolate chip
Freshly polluted powder
Slimy streets of huddled scarves
Swathed coats blow puffs of steam
Who dares walk fast and not slip?

"Let the wind blow,
Let the snow fall..."
Who remembers to say thank You?
For the frost
For melting snow
Into muddly puddles
Muddled huddled cold
Of winter.